The One Peacemaker Line That The Suicide Squad Fans Agree Is So Revealing
Contains spoilers for "The Suicide Squad"
It's hard to pick out a single standout performance from James Gunn's "The Suicide Squad." Each character brings something unique to the table, and they're all given a moment to shine. However, given that one of these supervillains received an order for an HBO Max spinoff series before the movie even came out, it's clear John Cena's Peacemaker resonated for some people in powerful places.
Peacemaker essentially functions as an even more evil version of Bloodsport (Idris Elba). The two constantly go at it throughout the film, as they have similar power sets and backgrounds, so each one wants to prove they're the superior marksman. Cena clearly has a blast in the part, which is likely why he was okay committing to the character for even longer with a show on the way.
He has numerous great lines throughout "The Suicide Squad," with the most iconic arguably being, "I cherish peace with all of my heart. I don't care how many men, women, and children I kill to get it." However, there's a decidedly different line of his that has Redditors doing a second look.
Peacemaker proves he's just like his father
Both Peacemaker and Bloodsport's fathers raised them to become killing machines. We can assume a fair amount of abuse took place, and while neither one is the nicest guy in the world, Peacemaker seems to have internalized a great deal of his father's personality.
A Reddit thread analyzes the Jotunheim sequence when King Shark (Sylvester Stallone) shows Peacemaker how he made his bomb look like a tiny Peacemaker. As u/NoWin159 points out, "Peacemaker barks 'No!' at him and tells him not to act like such a 'play baby'." The fan goes on to say, "Given Peacemaker's background, this is probably how he was treated by the father who was determined to raise him to become a killing machine. It just struck me what an understated but brilliant bit of writing this was."
It's easy to see how this could've easily been intentional on writer James Gunn's part, seeing how daddy issues were a prominent force in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2." There was likely a time in Peacemaker's life when he just wanted to be a silly kid and have fun. But his father likely shot down all such efforts, but that doesn't mean Peacemaker is serious all the time. When he has a second to calm down, the supervillain says, "That's actually very nice." There's still a kernel of goodness in him, and that kernel could easily explode into something grander once he gets fleshed out more in HBO Max's "Peacemaker" series.